Alexander Evans joins BMC Racing Team as Stagiaire

After a breakout first half of the year, Alexander Evans will be joining BMC Racing Team as a stagiaire for the remainder of the 2018 season.
Alex “AE Climber” Evans has earned his spot on the team after an incredible start to the season where he has shown consistency on mountain top stages finishing second on stage three of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour and third on stage one of the Tour of the Gila.

Throughout the season, Alex has impressed team owner Tom Petty with his numbers and performances. Talking to CyclingTips earlier this season Tom said: “The guy does over 450W for 10 minutes. And that was up Poatina at the Tour of Tasmania last year. He’s a light guy — 62 or 63 kilos — it’s very impressive numbers.” (Click here to read the full interview with Matt de Neef).

Alex only began cycling in the Australian National Road Series (NRS) in 2016 as an individual after transitioning from triathlon. It was his solid performance at the Tour of Tasmania in 2017 which saw him win the stage up Poatina that really caught the eye of Tom.

“Alex is someone I had my eye on for a while. When he absolutely smashed the hill climb in Tasmania to take the win, I knew I wanted to talk to him about joining the team for this season and providing him with the opportunity to race bigger events and harder climbs.”

“His performances at the Sun Tour and Gila were not flukes, they are the reality of his talent, hard-work and the learning curve he is on. Since joining the team Alex has continued to consistently produce some really strong numbers. We put a lot of faith in him this year, and you all know the story of how we almost left him behind on the Lake Mountain stage at the Sun Tour. But, he has the right attitude, that day it was, ‘well I can’t let my team down now’ and he didn’t disappoint. It is going to be really exciting to watch him grow with BMC Racing in the coming months.”

Alex Evans and Ethan Berends at the start of the Tour of the Gila Stage Five | Photo: Harry Wiles, Peak Creative

Currently racing in The Netherlands, Alex is gaining more experience alongside six of his mobius BridgeLane teammates in a six-week block of racing whos parcours do not particularly suit the climber, but it is, however, giving the 21-year-old some very valuable racing experience. Tom has even gone on to change his nickname from AE Climber to AE Crosswinds as he battles with new challenges faced racing in very flat and windy conditions.

“Alex is still relatively young to the sport but I believe riding with the BMC Racing Team for the remainder of the year is a great opportunity for Alex to compete at a higher level and to learn more from the professional cyclists he will be racing alongside,” said Tom.

“Our mission at mobius BridgeLane, as it always has been, is to provide a pathway for young riders like Alex to join the World Tour and I am very proud we have been able to take Alex on this journey. We are all very excited to see how he fares for the remainder of the season.”

Alex will travel from The Netherlands to Utah and line up for the first time in the BMC Racing colours at the UCI 2.HC Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. Alex’s big goal for the remainder of the season is to be selected for the Australian U23 team at the World Championships in Austria in September.